dtgreene: By the way, I'm currently eyeing the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G as my CPU. Is it suitable for my needs, and is it good for the price? (I note that this CPU with integrated graphics is cheaper than the excessively high prices that dedicated GPUs seem to go for.)
Also, how does it compare to the Intel i5-4670, which is the CPU I have now, both in terms of performance (when properly cooled) and power consumption/heat?
crimson_twilight: My opinion is likely to be a bit unusual these days. First and foremost though, after a certain point I find CPU's don't really make that big of a difference on gaming. As long as you aren't using a CPU that has been hobbled in some way (ie low power consumption models) they'll do the job. Case in point, I did an upgrade on my computer last year. Upgrading my Video card and Hard Drive's. My 2012 Intel i5-3750K is still in my system and has no problem keeping up with the latest games in 1920x1080 as they rely more on the video card.
AMD in general has better prices and better multi-thread performance, which is great if your running multi-threaded programs. Funnily enough, not all games make use of multiple threads. Many older ones in particular just use a single thread and in that circumstance Intel tends to do better. It also USED to be that most programs were created on Intel CPU's and, in my experience when I worked in a computer shop in the 2000s, that tended to mean that Intel's had a leg up on stability. This is likely no longer the case, however.
If you haven't already read it, Tom's Hardware has a good article on the current differences between Intel and AMD
https://www.tomshardware.com/features/amd-vs-intel-cpus They also specifically mention the AMD CPU you're interested in as being great (for the price) if you don't want to go the discrete graphic card route.
One other thing to point out:
* Gaming is not the only planned use for this computer. I may decide to compile custom Linux kernels, or even run buildroot. These tasks, in particular, benefit from more powerful CPUs and can be parallelized. (In particular, a large C/C++ program will consists of a large number of source code files, each of which is compiled separately (and can be done in parallel), then the result is linked together to form one final binary.) In another thread, I asked about the time to compile Chromium, and that is one task where a more powerful system benefits tremendously from a more powerful CPU.
Also, low power consumption models definitely have their uses. My laptop has such a CPU, and it actually does have some nice traits:
* Since it uses low power, I can get good battery life without the system needing a heavy battery.
* It also doesn't dissipate much heat, allowing the computer to stay at a reasonable temperature without a fan. Combine this with solid state storage, and you now have a computer with no moving parts.
* If you're into the sort of games I'm into, you can find plenty of games that run fine on them. Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark, for example, runs spectacularly well. Also, there's the whole back catalog of games, including the likes of Wasteland 1: The Original Classic and Dragon Wars, that play just fine on the computer.
* If you'll notice, mobile phones have low power consumption CPUs and solid state storage, so devices with those traits definitely have their use.
With that said, I am aiming for something more powerful than that for my new computer.
